BunkBlog

The ever-vigilant information systems security officer has just announced that there are email greeting cards that install porn on your computer. Thanks for that timely information. Spent a couple weeks hiding under a rock, have you?

Defense Information Systems Agency, the most messed-up group of IT folks I’ve had the misfortune of dealing with. Our MS Office binaries are stored on a file server, so they are slow and crash-prone. The official browser for DISA is Netscape Navigator 4.7. The IT shop won’t support laptops or PDAs, regardless of how many are purchased by the various departments. Ostriches.
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Toyota plans to have no pure-gasoline autos by 2012

I’m waiting to see the MR2 hybrid. Then I wouldn’t have to feel guilty about wanting a sporty car while also wanting to be ecologically and economically thoughtful. 40 mpg sports car? Oh, yeah!

Toyota sold nearly 37,000 hybrid cars last year, out of nearly 6 million total sales. And they expect to transition to all-hybrid by 2012? Neat trick. Apparently hybrid cars cost $3000 more to produce than a comparable pure-gasoline driven auto.
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For anyone who has been stationed at the Third Military Intelligence Battalion, check out my newest design.

Go on, , you know you want something to remember ARL by.
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Argh! Cafepress has changed their terms of service. Although it makes no difference to anything involved in the store itself, there is one new feature that worries me - if I don’t make $25 in commission in 6 months, they can close my account. I’m a little concerned, since I’ve made $28 in commission in 12 months (the age of the stores).

Anyone have any ideas for new designs? Surprisingly, nobody has bought an Eat Me thong yet.

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Although your coworker’s mediocrity may annoy you, it makes your merely good efforts look outstanding.
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Although I decried the rise of consumerism recently, I’d like to request that someone get me the Sony Clie NX60 for Christmas. If I had that, I’d be the happiest little boy in the world. They just released it today, and my old Palm III is pathetic and sad. Seriously, I’m gonna replace the Palm if I don’t get a new one for the holidays. This thing is dying. Random freezes, data loss from unavoidable hard reboots… Besides, the Clie is sweeeeet!
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This is a great article on the growing disparity between the very rich and the more plebeian masses.

Pretty good reading, if a bit long.
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From the files of “the headline sounds more interesting than the story” -

Firefighter in uniform “tricked” into appearing in porn film
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38 degrees according to the big thermometer outside the funeral home this morning. Wasn’t it like 90 just a couple weeks ago? Gotta love the desert…
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Yeah, I skipped last week, so what?

From the home office in Boise Idaho, the Friday Five:

1. What is your favorite scary movie? Scary movies are bad.
2. What is your favorite Halloween treat? Candy. All candy.
3. Do you dress up for Halloween? If so, describe your best Halloween costume. No, so N/A.
4. Do you enjoy going to haunted houses or other spooky events? Sure.
5. Will you dress up for Halloween this year? Not bloody likely.

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“There is no expedient to which a man will not go to avoid the labor of thinking.” - Thomas A. Edison
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OK, this guy is a total nutcase, of the Tim McVeigh type. He claimed to be a demolitions expert - he was a truck driver. He claimed to be a sniper - he shot expert once. He claimed to be a Green Beret - he was a truck driver!

He was stationed at Fort Ord and Fort Lewis, the two army posts I at which I was stationed during my years in the army. Suppose I ever met him? Nope, he was a truck driver in an engineering battalion. M.I. geeks don’t associate with anyone whose GT score is below 100.

Glad they caught this jackass, but it’s too bad he was military. McVeigh did enough damage, and the string of spouse killings is no ray of light either.

So, here’s a discussion question (not an invitation to a flame war) - Does the military attract violent men, do men become violent from being in the military, or is the correlation not statistically significant and the media is blowing it out of proportion? Discuss.
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Coach tapes girls locker room. Yeah, like it’s an isolated case or something.
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Anna Nicole gets second season on E!
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Got the coolest catalog yesterday, although simultaneously one of the most unusual. I think a number of folks on my gift list will be getting something from this fine organization. It’s cool, it’s about giving, yada yada yada. Read about them.

I’m a big fan of direct-action charities. I don’t give to the Sierra Club because they are a bunch of paid lobbyists. I give what I can to the Nature Conservancy, though, because they do one thing - buy land. If you want to save nature, the best thing to do is buy land and stop others from messing it up. That’s what NC does. Heifer International doesn’t give people food, they give them the means to eat. The old adage about teaching a man to fish applies so well here. And, the gifts range in price from $10 to $5000. For five grand, you give a village or two an entire menagerie, but for those of us with more modest means, a flock of chickens is affordable, or a share in a goat. That just sounds silly, but it’s a good thing.

In the midst of the consumerism which most of us indulge in, we could stand to help others, right? The USA is a very affluent country, overall.
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